Exploring USC Connect

Integrative Learning Grants

USC Connect and the Center for Teaching Excellence
Team Up to Provide a New Round of Faculty Grants

The 2012-13 Integrative Learning Grants sponsored by USC Connect and the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) supported faculty from political science, English, music, education, nursing, art, and public health. Projects ranged from the development of e-portfolios to incorporating new beyond the classroom experiences into coursework.

Gail Barnes, Professor of Music, used her integrative learning grant to support background research ultimately leading to a new opportunity for her students. Students visited schools near Atlanta with large numbers of children living in poverty AND high quality string orchestra programs. The students created a presentation that synthesized what they observed and the ingredients they concluded are necessary for such a program to be successful. Seeing the programs first-hand really made an impact on students.

Students in awardee David Whiteman's Green Politics (POLI 477) class put their understanding of green political thought into practice by serving as members of one of Sustainable Carolina's project teams.

Dr. Whiteman's grant focused on assessing student learning from their projects. The grant helped fund a graduate assistant who developed assessment procedures and collected comprehensive data on student learning that will inform projects in the future. David noted that participating in the Integrative Learning Co-hort was very helpful in thinking through pedagogical issues related to the course.

Awardee and Associate Professor Mary Hjelm (English) also commented on participating in the co-hort group: "While I, like my students, don’t particularly like group projects, I did find that working in a cohort for the Integrative Learning Grant through CTE was a terrific experience. As a group we were able to cover much more ground than I expected and, as a result, I learned a great deal more from my colleagues than I would have pursued on my own." Other faculty awardees noted that they appreciated the flexibility of the grants to allow development of a project that best suits their needs.

Christy Friend, the new director of the CTE joined the co-hort group for their final meeting over lunch: "It was a treat for me to sit in on the final meeting of this year's cohort of faculty who received Teaching Excellence Grants in Integrative Learning. I was thoroughly impressed by the variety and quality of the projects the group has undertaken with their students. And it was especially exciting to hear colleagues engaged in rich, interdisciplinary conversations about their teaching. I look forward to next year’s grant program."